More than 80 percent of all known animal species in the world are insects. One million species have been named; there may be as many as 30 million species in all. Insects abound virtually everywhere, even in parts of Antarctica. In the United States, the average acre of land contains 400 pounds of insects, but just 14 pounds of people.

STUBAI GLACIER, Austria – Alois Ranalter was standing on a field of fleecelike fabric laid out over what remained of the winter snow here one recent day when he decided to illustrate just what has happened to this glacier.

WASHINGTON – Three vertebrae, removed from the body of President James A. Garfield, sit on a stretch of blue satin. A red plastic probe running through them marks the path of his assassin's bullet, fired on July 2, 1881.